Why I Quit My Job To Travel

My name is Dev and I am a full-time Indian travel blogger. I started my corporate career as a documentary producer in England before I quit my job to travel.

In 2016, I started this travel blog, and since then, I’ve only been wandering around and writing about my journeys.

And speaking of the reasons for what made me quit the job to travel the world in the first place, here are some reasons why I…

Quit My Job To Travel

Last week, I took a wee trip to Rishikesh – the land of sadhus and many people’s spiritual rebirth. I have a personal affection, some attachment to this place. This is where I once spent two months at a place called Sivananda Ashram.

But this time, my arrival was accompanied by a sense of unexpected realization. I wondered, as I grabbed myself walking along its frenzied, confused walkways, how lucky I am to experience places like Rishikesh again and again. And yet, it is never the climax of my journey. It is always the beginning.

“We wander, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls” Anais Nin

It has been a few years now that I have been working as an Indian travel blogger, and made full-time travelling my life and my source of income, yet I never shared here why and how it all happened.

It would be nice to say that I wanted to understand myself and find my inner consciousness, but frankly speaking, it’s not true. To find the inner consciousness was never the reason why I quit my job to travel.

The only true part is that was bored of the monotonous 9 to 5 corporate job and I didn’t want to continue doing it until I turned 60, ready to retire. I wanted something more than that.

I wanted to see the world. Meet new people. Learn better ideas. Find out what’s wrong with this system of corporate culture, that it never made anyone happy – no matter what they achieved in their life.

Simply put, I wanted to educate myself in a way that no school, no job ever did before. And I wanted to do that by breaking free.

To quit the job to travel the world was only a natural decision.

But one thing is saying that I want to do this and the other thing is realizing I am actually doing it.

Full-time Travelling is no less than a pursuit of happiness for me. Yet, throughout this time, I’ve often stumbled upon questions like “Why did I quit my job to travel the world” or “How did I manage to make such a decision” or “How’s life as an Indian travel blogger”?

I think with all these questions, what people wanted to ask me was why did I not go for a two-week calculated holiday (or a couple of month’s sabbatical, if I am being pretentiously brazen about it) to quench my thirst for wandering, as an averagely sane person would otherwise do.

The truth is, there is no fun in that. I have taken enough of those recreational holidays – as people often call them – in my life.

When I was working, I found myself travelling every weekend, with a couple of friends, drinking a few beers and returning with an unsatisfied soul. And I remember, the minute I entered the premises of my office, after that sweet, sally trip, I felt even more restless.

So I realised that I wanted something more than that. Something bigger. Something permanent. I wanted a life of full-time travelling, of permanent movement.

Initially, I looked for ways how to travel the world without money but soon, this blog started generating revenues and I started getting travel sponsorships.

Discontentment Is Good

Discontentment is the very first step to a new beginning. My discontentment towards my job forced me to quit my job and become an Indian travel blogger. I had always loved England, but I never loved my life in England. I always loved my profession, but I never loved my job.

It seemed I was just accepting things as they came because everyone around me told me “This is life and you got to learn to deal with it.”

But I think I wasn’t good at it. Though I tried to suppress my unsatisfied soul the traditional way, by changing jobs and running after money, it was just not enough. My audacious, fertile mind – discontented and grumbling – kept pushing me until I shifted focus and became one of the first Indian travel bloggers.

The Journey That Changed It All

I didn’t become an Indian travel blogger as soon as I returned from England. I worked in India for a couple of years and during that time, I travelled a lot.

I remember I took my first solo backpacking trip in 2014 (you can read about it all in this travel blog). Though there was nothing extraordinarily great about the journey, the freedom in full-time travelling was, in fact, most addictive. And that was it. I spent the next few months, saving as much money as possible from the job I was doing, having a very clear focus in my mind – to finally quit my job to travel the world.

“I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world” Mary Anne Radmacher

Though it is true when I quit my job in 2015, I had no idea that I will soon start blogging, but I had a belief that something good will follow. I remember during the initial few months of full-time travelling and searching for a better life, I tried seeking a way to become a community journalist (I even wrote a few articles addressing social issues but couldn’t find the courage to get them published somewhere) and make it my permanent career, but I couldn’t.

And I think it was because I tried and failed that in the end I decided to be a little easy on myself, and chose a more freestyle kind of writing – blogging.

So the point here is, if you’re discontent, and wanting a little shift in your life, there is no harm in quitting what you’re doing and trying to change the present. Because if nothing else, you can always return to the same present and say to yourself “I at least tried!” And because I quit my job to travel the world, I can say so too!

4 Years As An Indian Travel Blogger

Update: It has been over 4 years now since I started this blog ‘Footloose Dev’ and I am fortunate that I could make it work.

Though my journey as a full-time Indian travel blogger has had many highs and lows when I look back and think of what full-time travelling has given me during all this time, there’s just one thing that comes to my mind, and it is – the satisfaction and the thrill in waking up every day!

And speaking of what’s next, I think now that I’ve got good riddance of my corporate career and have started making money from travel blogging, I’ll continue doing it for as long as my heart desires.

And if I ever desire some stillness in life, I can always go back and find a corporate job. But this time, I will only do it a lot better and be content.

Respect my decision? Like my lifestyle? Then why not follow me on social media? I can be found on Facebook, and Instagram. You can also contact me with any questions if you are struggling with how to quit the job to travel the world.

You can also find me on YouTube. Watch the video below…